188JILI Chinese Poker Rules for Front, Middle and Back

The chinese poker rules come down to one job: split 13 cards into three poker hands that rise in strength from front to back. It is a 4-player game with a standard 52-card pack, and everyone plays for themselves. The rules below follow Pagat’s Chinese poker page and Wikipedia’s Chinese poker article, and they sit in the same family as the other Pinoy card games on the Poker row.

Chinese poker rules in five steps

1. Agree a stake for one unit before dealing.
2. Shuffle, cut and deal 13 cards to each of four players.
3. Arrange your cards into a back hand of 5, a middle hand of 5 and a front hand of 3, face down.
4. Expose all three hands together and compare them against each opponent’s matching hands.
5. Win one unit for each opposing hand you beat and lose one for each that beats you; equal hands pay nothing.

Setting 13 cards into three hands

The standard poker ranking is used and there are no wild cards. Check the order of hand types in the poker card ranking from royal flush down if you need it.

What makes a hand foul

A hand is foul when the order breaks: the back must be better than the middle, and the middle better than the front.

Pagat adds a second case. In its example a player may not put a pair of jacks in front, because the other ten cards could then no longer make a stronger middle hand and a stronger back hand. Straights and flushes in the front do not count at all, since only three card types exist there. The penalty for a foul is agreed by the table; Wikipedia states only that a misplaced hand is subject to one.

Scoring: one unit per hand

In the simplest payment system a player collects one unit from each opponent whose front, middle or back hand they beat. Ties pay nothing. Example against one opponent:

Many tables add the overall point, one extra unit between two players for the net winner, so winning two of three hands matters. Agree it before the deal, since the scoring varies from group to group.

Bonus hands in Pagat’s typical scale

Strong hands in a position can be worth more than one unit. Pagat gives this typical scale and says to agree it in advance.

Pagat’s worked example: one player holds 6-6-6 in front, 4-4-4-9-9 in the middle and K-K-K-8-8 at the back, against Q-Q-7, J-J-J-2-2 and 5-5-5-5-A. The first wins 3 units for the front, but loses 2 in the middle and 4 at the back, so that player pays 3 units. Bonuses count only for hands you win.

Special 13-card hands

Some tables allow special hands that win automatically if declared before the cards are exposed. Wikipedia calls these “naturals” and notes that a natural pays an agreed amount, which varies by rule set. Pagat’s typical list, in ascending order:

How JILI’s Pusoy Go uses the same idea

In the Philippines Chinese poker is called Pusoy, which is a different game from the Pusoy Dos ranking of suits. JILI’s Pusoy Go page describes four players arranging 13 cards into sets of 3, 5 and 5 that are compared three times. Winning all three comparisons against one opponent triggers “Pusoy”, which doubles the winnings, and winning against all three opponents triggers “Winner takes all”, which doubles them again. Open the title’s info screen for its exact payouts; a blackjack side bet such as insurance in blackjack is a separate table game with its own maths.